


gothamsfinest/ddsaaxd (axdnv)

by SapphicScholar



Series: Your fav is in fandom [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Coming Out, Crack, F/F, Fandom AU, Pre-Canon, Tumblr AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23215558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar
Summary: Maggie and Alex might not have met until President Marsdin's speech.But what if gothamsfinest and ddsaaxd had known each other for much longer?Or, ya know, it's more of the cracky fandom/social media series where oblivious Alex is only reading femslash because of the strong female characters, and her fic is definitely Rizzoli&Isles, not Rizzoli/Isles, no matter what gothamsfinest thinks
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Series: Your fav is in fandom [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667869
Comments: 65
Kudos: 296





	gothamsfinest/ddsaaxd (axdnv)

**Author's Note:**

> Alex's screen name borrowed from the wonderful performativezippers' Spin Doctor fic (https://archiveofourown.org/works/12219255/chapters/27755442) which you should go read if you haven't already

As a policy, Alex Danvers did not read fan fiction. She may have participated in a few heated fan board discussions about _Xena_ and _The X-Files_ , but that was analysis, not trying to write some fake baby and make two characters kiss and live happily ever after. She’d left that bullshit to Kara for years (and teased her mercilessly when she readily shared her account with Alex back in high school).

So honestly, it was a mystery to her as to how, at 24 years old, she’d ended up on fanfiction.net instead of working on her overdue research, drumming her fingers lightly against the keys as she tried to come up with a username that was far enough away from anything else she used online.

Too many things felt oddly identifiable, like Kara would see them and know instantly that it was Alex behind that pseudonym.

In the end, an odd abbreviation of her actual name somehow seemed more anonymous than anything else. Also, it had “ax” in it, and that was pretty cool.

Once she’d picked a password and verified her email, Alex clicked over to the _Rizzoli & Isles_ story she’d been reading—not one of those fics where suddenly everyone’s sleeping together and talking about feelings, but a proper one with a real, believable serial killer and a police team that actually felt realistic. She didn’t know if gothamsfinest was actually a member of the GPD or if they were just good about doing their research, but the story was compelling enough that Alex actually wanted to leave a review. Of course, that was easier said than done when she saw that gothamsfinest had decided not to allow anonymous reviews. And really, she could have just let it go; the writer probably got lots of other people telling them how good the story was. But a flicker of guilt flared up inside her—memories of Kara moping around the house when she posted something she’d worked hard on and gotten almost no feedback in response—and suddenly she found herself creating an account that she’d clearly only ever use to leave a couple comments on this one fic.

Only, “Bound” just kept getting better.

It was on chapter 14 now, and each one left Alex on the edge of her seat. The serial killer seemed to be getting closer and closer to Maura, but gothamsfinest managed to break up the tension with easy banter between Jane and Maura and a few scenes with the extended Rizzoli family that actually made Alex smile. Hell, there were even B-plots with Frost and Korsak that Alex didn’t hate, and she almost _never_ liked the random “extra” plots that most authors didn’t know how to handle.

And fine, okay, it was starting to become clear that there might be a romance plot between Maura and Jane. But it wasn’t overwhelming. Alex didn’t, like, _need_ to see them be together. She was totally cool with Jane being with that FBI guy, whatever his name was. Best friendship was a big deal, and she’d definitely had friends she’d been just as close with as those two were. It didn’t have to _mean_ anything. But gothamsfinest focused on the story, and if maybe Jane and Maura ended up kissing, Alex guessed it would be fine. It wasn’t like that was why she’d clicked on the story in the first place.

Chapter 19 finally saw it happen: the kiss. And…and more. Alex’s heart thundered in her chest. Which was ridiculous. They were characters, and she wasn’t even invested in their relationship; she was here for them being badasses and solving crimes and locking up the bad guys. But Alex’s cheeks were warm, and her skin felt prickly and too hot, and for the first time in nearly twenty chapters, Alex didn’t leave a review.

\---

Maggie tried to ignore the flash of disappointment when she checked her fandom email and saw that axdnv still hadn’t left a comment on her latest chapter. It wasn’t that she was owed comments, but still, it had been the big turning point everyone was clamoring for, and her favorite reviewer—the only one who actually seemed to care about the non-relationship parts of the story as much as Maggie did—was curiously absent. Maybe they were traveling. Or working. Or saving it for when they had more time—it _had_ been a long update, after all.

They’d come back, Maggie assured herself.

As it turned out, the first time Maggie saw axdnv again online was when they posted the first chapter of their very first story. Suddenly it all made sense. Of course they hadn’t made time for reading updates if they were working on something of their own; if they were anything like Maggie, they were probably fretting about their first story for weeks, trying to figure out if they were brave enough to post it. Which obviously meant that the right thing to do was to drop anything else she was working on to go leave a welcoming review.

Luckily the story itself was quite good. Maybe the dialogue was a bit stiff at times, but that felt more like axdnv had probably internalized the whole “never use a contraction in writing” rule than anything else. And the plot more than made up for it. Unlike most people in fandom, axdnv had chosen to write from Maura’s perspective, and if Maggie had to put money on it, she’d bet that axdnv had studied science or at least done a whole hell of a lot of research to make sure all the autopsy scenes sounded realistic.

Once Maggie had read through the chapter twice—a quick read first, then a more thorough second read—Maggie typed out her comment. “Hey, axdnv! Welcome to the writing side of fandom! I really love the story you’ve got going so far. So rare to see Maura’s perspective done (and done this well). Can’t wait to see where you go from here! And if you ever want someone to bounce ideas off of or do a quick beta read, I’m on tumblr at the same username.”

A day later, Maggie saw that axdnv had responded: “Thanks for the comment. I’m not on tumblr, but I appreciate the offer.”

Ah well. Apparently she wouldn’t be making a new fandom friend that easily.

\---

Alex once more pulled up the new comment gothamsfinest had left.

“SO GOOD! The plot just keeps getting thicker, and I don’t even know where it’s going or who’s guilty (which, tbh, is kinda sad considering my job…). And g-d I love how you’ve written Maura. She’s so smart, but so fucking oblivious sometimes. Like, really Maura? You’re just gonna act like it’s super casual to notice all those things about your best friend and then invite her over for a drink and get all disappointed but not know why when she’s gotta go hang out with some dumb guy? Very in character!”

There was nothing wrong with it really. In fact, it was one of the longer reviews she’d gotten on the chapter, especially now that people could leave anonymous reviews, and most of those comments were just things like “good chapter!” or “update soon! Thnx!”

It was just…Alex hadn’t really meant to make Maura oblivious. And she didn’t really get where gothamsfinest was seeing it in the chapter. And if she was the author, shouldn’t she of all people know what she was doing with her characters?

Maybe if she just asked them…

Three drinks later, Alex pulled up Tumblr and found herself making an account. She ignored the option to list her interests or start following people. This wasn’t some kind of long-term investment. Gothamsfinest had offered to talk to her about her fic on Tumblr; she was merely taking them up on the offer.

They were easy enough to find, and Alex managed to ignore the weird combination of dog photos and political posts and a handful of black-and-white pictures of half-naked women on motorcycles, although, ooh, that was a _really_ nice motorcycle. It had been tagged #dykesonbikes. Maybe it wouldn’t be weird to follow the tag. She liked bikes, after all.

No, focus. Messenger. Right there.

Words. She needed to write words.

“Hey it’s axdnv from ff.net. You offered to talk about my fic with me. Not sure if that’s still an offer, but I’m worried that maybe I’m doing something wrong, especially because a few people said it was tagged wrong in the comments. Thanks.”

Alex was ready to log off when suddenly a little red “1” appeared by the messages icon, then a “2,” then a “3.” She clicked down to the window again.

**gothamsfinest:** Hey!

**gothamsfinest:** Good to see you finally on this hellsite!

**gothamsfinest:** Happy to help and talk through stuff. I’m really loving your fic so far!

A moment later another message popped up before Alex could even say anything.

**gothamsfinest:** Probably people talking about the relationships. You used an &, which makes sense cause the show does, but for this kinda fic you’ll want a /. plus that’ll make it easier for people to find it and give it the appreciation it deserves ;)

Alex blinked once. Then twice. She vaguely remembered Kara talking about these differences, but back then she’d been too busy mocking Kara for it to really pay attention. She could always text Kara, but then she’d have to admit that she was writing fanfic, or at least reading it, and she’d rather admit that she was practically failing out of grad school first.

**axdnv:** What’s the difference?

**axdnv:** I’m still kind of new to this.

**gothamsfinest:** of course! So & is for things like family or friendship, and slash is for things that go beyond just friendship

**gothamsfinest:** even if they don’t include sex or anything – not trying to tell you that you need to write anything you don’t feel comfortable writing!! You do you!!

**axdnv:** oh.

Alex poured herself a generous glass of the cheap whiskey she’d been working her way through. Apparently this conversation would call for it.

**gothamsfinest:** yeah, sorry, there should be a cheat sheet for newbies haha

**axdnv:** right.

**gothamsfinest:** you alright?

**axdnv:** Yeah, just… do you think I should be using the / for this fic? Or like edit the description?

**gothamsfinest:** don’t get me wrong, the writing is doing the work of the slash for ya (sizzling chemistry btw, don’t think I mentioned that in my review of the last chapter), but if you tag it right, you can’t get the assholes coming in being like I didn’t want to see this!

**axdnv:** oh.

**gothamsfinest:** yeah I mean, this fandom’s pretty good (not much content for het shippers here lol), but sometimes they pop up, and id hate to see you get that shit on your first fic

**axdnv:** right, yeah. Thanks

**gothamsfinest:** np!

**axdnv:** so…just to check… I should be tagging it with maura/jane bc you think it’s so clear that they’re going to end up together?

**gothamsfinest:** uh…yeah?

**gothamsfinest:** were you going for something else?

**gothamsfinest:** oh fuck is this gonna be a no happy ending fic?? Youre gonna wanna add a tag for that kind of thing!

**axdnv:** no! just idk I kinda thought they were just friends.

**gothamsfinest:** oh

**gothamsfinest:** that’s fine too!

**gothamsfinest:** it was just the way you wrote maura. Like…she’s obviously in love with Jane.

**axdnv:** is she?

**axdnv:** that’s what friendships have always been like for me

**gothamsfinest:** oh for sure me too. But like…also then the kind of thing where you’re like…ohhhh in retrospect that’s bc I was a gigantic fucking lesbian

**gothamsfinest:** axdnv?

**gothamsfinest:** hey you okay?

**gothamsfinest:** look if you’ve got a problem with who I am, you can block me now.

**axdnv:** no problem. Just getting late. Work tomorrow. Bye

\---

Over the next week or two, Maggie sent a handful of messages checking in on axdnv. She didn’t get any responses. There were no updates to their fic. They didn’t comment when Maggie posted a new chapter of “Bound.” It was like they’d disappeared.

Then, four months later, after Maggie was fairly certain they’d just vanished, they reappeared again with a new chapter. There was no author’s note given to explain the long absence, and they didn’t reply to any of the comments that had been left.

Two months after that, axdnv sent Maggie a message on Tumblr.

**axdnv:** Sorry for disappearing on you. Long story. Bit of trouble with grad school shit. Some bigger trouble with other shit. Got a new job. You didn’t need to worry.

Maggie hesitated, wondering if she should leave the message for a little while. Or a few months. Eventually, she caved.

**gothamsfinest:** congrats on the new job. Hope other things are sorting themselves out.

That time, she barely had to wait for a reply.

**axdnv:** they will be soon.

And that was that.

For a little while. 

Then, one night, Maggie got an ask she was fairly certain was meant to be anonymous.

“How’d you know you were gay?”

And, rather than possibly out axdnv, Maggie sent herself an actual anonymous ask, then did it again since the first one never came through. She posted a lengthy reply full of all the compassion and self-love she’d have loved to see back when she was coming out. She talked about falling into a kind of puppy love with her best friend in high school, about not having a great experience coming out to her parents but having an aunt who welcomed her and finding this great big chosen family online and then later in the communities she lived and worked in. But she didn’t stop at her own experience. She talked about friends who hadn’t realized they were queer for a long time. And friends who still weren’t sure about their labels. And how all of those experiences were totally fine and healthy. She added a couple of linked resources and phone numbers just in case, then posted, hoping that axdnv would see it and take what she needed from it.

\---

Alex hadn’t exactly meant to abandon fandom. Really, she hadn’t. And she didn’t—not really. She kept up with gothamsfinest’s stories, as well as a few other authors she’d come to like. She left anonymous reviews on them every so often. She clicked over to her own story sometimes and found the odd comment here or there asking if she’d abandoned the work or hoping that she was doing okay. She made herself an account by the same username over at AO3 after overhearing Kara and Lucy talk about it being the new place to be for fandom. She logged into Tumblr every so often and saw the occasional message from gothamsfinest checking in on her.

It was just…life had happened. She’d started admitting—in the privacy of her own thoughts only—that maybe she wasn’t quite as straight as she’d always thought she was, that maybe her writing had revealed something about her that she’d never been able to see for herself. But there was a new job. And a dual-doctorate to finish. And then ranks to start rising through. (And because she couldn’t really tell Kara everything, to celebrate she went and changed her usernames to ddsaaxd and kind of hoped someone might ask her about it. They didn’t. No one even knew to look.) And then there was her sister making this big splashing debut as Supergirl. And Alex was stressed and overwhelmed, and suddenly it had been literal _years_ , and she didn’t know what it was that brought her back to the story, but she found herself rereading all the chapters she had posted. She saw it that time—the current between Maura and Jane that she’d been so adamant about calling friendship before. Sure, the friendship was there, too, but it would be a lie to say that’s all it was.

So with a long weekend of forced leave in front of her after a particularly nasty alien attack had left her upper body a mess of mottled bruises and cuts, Alex sat down to write.

Once she stopped caring about trying to strike the exact same mood and fit her words into the same writing style as before, she found she couldn’t stop writing.

She wrote and wrote and wrote.

She let those unspoken things between Maura and Jane flit up to the surface, glimmering through as they started to fumble their way towards the kind of thing that Alex could maybe admit she might just want.

She barely skimmed the chapter over for typos before heading to post it.

For the first time, she wrote an author’s note.

_Hey…it’s been a long time. Way longer than I’m sure you expected. Life came at me, and fandom took a backseat for a while. If you still want to read or you’re a new reader, I promise I’m not abandoning the work, and you can have this monstrously long chapter to prove it. I’ve, uh, updated the tags as some of you suggested I should have done a long time ago. Special thanks to gothamsfinest for helping with where this fic is going now in a lot of ways they probably don’t even realize. Anyway, hope you enjoy. Also I’m gonna start posting this on AO3 since I’m told that’s where the “cool kids” are now, even though I don’t think I’ve counted as a kid for quite some time._

\---

Maggie’s exes liked to tell her she had walls built up so high around her no one could get in. That she had a tendency to push people who cared away. That she didn’t let anyone see her emotions. That sometimes they wondered if she felt anything at all.

None of them would have recognized the woman half-sobbing over a scene of a fictional character talking to her pet tortoise and telling him about all the kinds of experiences and feelings she’d assumed just weren’t for her, the ways she had trouble opening up and letting people in and trusting them not to judge what they’d found, the way none of her dates or even boyfriends, kind as some of them had been, could make her feel quite as at ease, as at _home_ , as Jane could. Asking Bass if maybe he would mind, if he would judge her, if the next person she brought back to the apartment was a woman, if maybe he wouldn’t mind if Jane stayed there again—on a more permanent basis than the semi-regular sleepovers and occasional long stays during renovations and burglaries and the casual escaped-serial-killer-with-a-vendetta kind of scenarios.

It wasn’t until the second read that Maggie saw the author’s note, saw the tiny little shout out to her. She wanted to hug axdnv—or, no, apparently ddsaaxd now—and tell them how proud she was.

Instead, she left a rambling, incoherent mess of a comment with excitement about their return and about the fic and the way it made her feel so deeply.

She also found herself on Tumblr, sending another message into the void of unanswered chat attempts that had become their messenger window. “Hey, ddsaaxd! Nice new username, though I’m still never gonna try to pronounce it aloud. Really loved the new chapter! In the interest of being honest with you, Tumblr probably glitched—it kept your name on that ask you sent years ago. I hope you saw the answer I left. And I just…if you ever wanted to talk, I hope this doesn’t freak you and keep you from talking to me again. Because I’m here. Honestly, I’m always happy to chat. Or to ignore it and pretend like it never happened. Whatever you want. Sending good thoughts your way. Oh! And a bajillion kudos for that chapter. Never thought I’d cry over a scene with Bass, but here we are…”

Maggie expected the message to go unanswered. Possibly forever. At least for a few weeks.

The near immediate indicator that ddsaaxd was typing was a welcome surprise. She waited. And waited. Watched as the dots appeared and disappeared and reappeared. Finally a message came through.

**ddsaaxd:** That’s…mildly humiliating. And part of me wants to disappear on you again. But…you were really honest with me in your answer back then. And again just now. So, uh, yeah. Thank you. I still haven’t figured out everything or told anyone—not even a tortoise—but I think I’m getting somewhere.

**gothamsfinest:** That’s huge, congratulations! And I know we don’t, like, know each other, but I’m a person, so now you’ve told one person.

**ddsaaxd:** Huh. I guess you’re right.

**gothamsfinest:** I generally am.

**ddsaaxd:** …

**gothamsfinest:** It’s fine. I accept your silence as admission of the fact.

**gothamsfinest:** I mean, we could also talk about how I was right on your fic needing that /

**gothamsfinest:** (Is it too soon to joke?)

**ddsaaxd:** nah, you’re good. It did. I see that now hah

**gothamsfinest:** Looking back at some of your own friendships now too?

**ddsaaxd:** …maybe.

**gothamsfinest:** It’s all good. Been there, done that, got the shot glass.

**ddsaaxd:** Isn’t the saying a t-shirt?

**gothamsfinest:** You’ve read about my coming out.

**ddsaaxd:** point taken!

**ddsaaxd:** sorry

**gothamsfinest:** It’s…not fine, but also not your fault at all.

**gothamsfinest:** I’m pretty over it these days. Been well over a decade now.

**ddsaaxd:** and you’re, ya know, happy, right? You weren’t just saying that to make me feel good in your reply?

**gothamsfinest:** I’m happy. Honestly. I’ve got a new job in a new city. Got a date with a hot bartender. Life is good.

**ddsaaxd:** good, I’m glad to hear it.

**gothamsfinest:** What about you? Last we talked you had a new job—how’s that going?

**ddsaaxd:** I like it. Gave me purpose when I needed it. The past year or two have been a whirlwind, but for once it feels like a good kind? Idk some shit got resolved that needed to get dealt with a long time ago, and now my sister and I are really close, and I finished grad school, and my job makes me happy for the most part.

**gothamsfinest:** That’s awesome!

**ddsaaxd:** thanks

**gothamsfinest:** anytime. I should go get ready for my date – don’t want to leave a lady waiting – but lmk if you need anything, yeah? I’m around, even if it’s just to talk or rant or whatever

**ddsaaxd:** have fun on your date, talk later

\---

Alex wasn’t sure when she became one of those people who talked to strangers—or, no, just one stranger, really—on the internet about intensely personal things. But she and gothamsfinest had become…something like friends. She certainly knew more about Alex than most of the people in Alex’s life, and Alex had a sneaking suspicion that she knew more about gothamsfinest than a lot of people in her life did, too.

They talked about everything and nothing. Alex might not know gothamsfinest’s name, but she knew that she grew up in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska; that her parents had kicked her out when the girl she liked told her parents about the Valentine’s Day card she’d left in her locker; that she’d been promoted to detective and was a staunch defender of alien rights; that she loved comedies and thought that Game of Thrones was totally overrated; that she hated pineapple on her pizza and truly believed you couldn’t get decent slice outside of Metropolis; that she’d been engaged to a woman once but ever since it ended poorly (her own fault, she claimed, though Alex wondered), she hadn’t been able to hold down a relationship for longer than a couple of months.

Alex learned that gothamsfinest absolutely hated high school AUs and gratuitous angst or violence, that she wasn’t a fan of baby fics, and that she secretly adored almost all the tropes—when forced to rank them, she listed “they were roommates,” “there was only one bed,” and fake dating as a three-way tie for first place. Thanks to a deep dive into gothamsfinest’s ff.net profile and her Tumblr, Alex learned that she had strong feelings about the way certain kinds of characters were written and had no problems ruffling a whole lot of feathers telling people what she thought. When Alex found out gothamsfinest had moved to AO3 at some point as well, she found a veritable treasure trove of explicit femslash that left her turned on and feeling oddly guilty for days. The silent stalemate would probably have continued on forever were it not for gothamsfinest’s messaging her: “Yeah, dude, I saw you left kudos on several of my E-rated fics. I wrote them. I’m clearly not judging you for reading and liking them. You can stop ignoring my messages now. Pleeeaaassseeee. I’m bored at work.”

Gothamsfinest was the first to know when Alex went on her first date with a woman, as well as her assessment after that—“I’m definitely gay. Also definitely not gonna work out with her long-term.” She was the one Alex went to panicking before she told Kara, then panicking again in the middle of telling Kara, then finally half-hysterical with relief when it turned out that Kara had been feeling guilty about making Alex feel all alone in her feelings, like she couldn’t even share this part of herself with her sister, especially when Kara had liked women herself for years and just assumed Alex knew.

Alex, in turn, was the first to know when gothamsfinest got a promotion. Or when she cracked a big case. Or when she went on dates and started seeing new women or got dumped by the new women. And every time she listed out her now-ex-girlfriends’ reasons for dumping her, Alex couldn’t help but be shocked. The things they said were so far away from the woman Alex had gotten to know over the past few, well, years really, or months if they only counted the time of regular chatting.

At a certain point, Alex wondered if they’d started flirting. There were teasing messages and jokes that left her grinning at her phone like a fool, and more than once Kara had assumed Alex was seeing someone. But…she wasn’t. Not really. Sure, there was a level of emotional intimacy. And, yes, one time gothamsfinest had _jokingly_ gifted Alex some smut in return for the “there was only one bed, and we need to huddle for warmth” fic Alex gifted her for her birthday. And fine, okay, maybe Alex had a little crush. But she didn’t know what gothamsfinest looked like or if she felt the same or, hell, even what her real name was! So clearly nothing was ever going to happen.

\---

In her excitement about meeting the president, Maggie almost let slip where she lived in a Tumblr post, stopping herself just in time. She debated the merits of a generic excited post, but ultimately decided against it. Didn’t want to jinx herself by rambling about meeting heroes.

Of course, she seemed to have jinxed herself anyway. If the whole, cuffed and kidnapped in a warehouse and not in a sexy fanfic kind of way was any indication.

But then there was that hot, absolutely insufferable fed rescuing her and looking pretty impressed when Maggie recovered, coming in for the save with a pipe of all things—and in her head sje couldn’t quite stop from making a joke about Maggie, in the warehouse, with the lead pipe!

When she got home, exhausted and still buzzing from the lingering sensation of Alex’s fingers against her shoulder and Alex’s gaze that had followed her all the way out of the James Bond-style lair, Maggie couldn’t stop herself from posting:

_Weirdest couple of days. Met an idol. Met a very, very attractive lady. Fought with aforementioned hot lady who is kind of the worst. (Still took her out for a drink—can’t pass up an opportunity, ya know.) Got rescued by the hot lady. Then rescued the hot lady in turn. Anyway, when is someone gonna start making a movie of my life? I’ll happily sign away the rights to my story for enough cash and the promise that they’ll get a real lesbian to play me in the biopic. No straight girls with long nails and close-mouthed kissing for me._

She messaged ddsaaxd before bed. “Dude. WILD few days. Sorry to be mia, but let’s catch up soon, yeah?”

Only, as it turned out, her personal life all but disappeared over the next week, consumed as it was by work and a secret alien flight club.

It wasn’t until the morning after they’d caught Roulette (then immediately been forced to let her go) and after a brief, disastrous attempt at a date that spluttered out before it could go anywhere—apparently it was in bad form to keep talking about the woman you met at work to the woman who was supposed to be holding your attention—that Maggie made it back to Tumblr.

A string of messages was waiting for her.

**ddsaaxd:** Saw your post – you would manage to go from meeting, to fighting, to taking a woman out for a drink in the span of a few hours.

**ddsaaxd:** Meanwhile I’m still trying to figure out if this woman I met…idk. She’s confusing. I thought maybe we were flirting, but then she talked about going on a date with someone else.

**ddsaaxd:** whatever it’s fine. I’ll just die single and alone

**ddsaaxd:** my sister thinks it was flirting

There was a time gap, then more messages—honestly, more than ddsaaxd had ever sent in one go.

**ddsaaxd:** YOOO

**ddsaaxd:** I AM LITERALLY LIVING OUT YOUR FAVORITE TROPE

**ddsaaxd:** I don’t know what to do w myself.

**ddsaaxd:** Gay lady is here and very pretty and telling me I look good too

**ddsaaxd:** GOTHAMSFINEST SHE HELD MY HAND I THINK WE WERE FAKE DATING

**ddsaaxd:** okay no. she is seeing someone else. I tried to ask her out for drink—like you would, ya know? Time to take off the training wheels or whatever. And then there was this blonde chick, and they kissed, and I hate it. It’s fine.

**ddsaaxd:** okay im gonna go get a little drunk and watch terrible movies with my sister

Maggie blinked at the screen. Could it… No. There was no way. Life wasn’t a movie, no matter how much she might joke about it.

Still, wanting to be sure, Maggie messaged her back.

**gothamsfinest:** hey! Idk if you’re awake or super hungover, but I wanna hear about this girl!

She barely had to wait for a response.

**ddsaaxd:** less hungover than I could be

**gothamsfinest:** small victories!

**ddsaaxd:** Suppose so

**gothamsfinest:** so…tell me about the lucky lady?

**ddsaaxd:** ughhh she’s clearly taken even if she was flirting

**ddsaaxd:** she’s just…so pretty

**ddsaaxd:** and she’s kind of an asshole, but in a good way. Like…she called me out on my shit, and I don’t get that a whole lot anymore

**ddsaaxd:** and oh my god these dimples

Maggie’s heart pounded in her chest.

**gothamsfinest:** so you’re like…working with her?

**ddsaaxd:** eh, not directly? Maybe we’ll end up working together again at some point, but for now it would be like…an informal partnership at best. Nothing where I’m seeing her everyday if that’s what you mean

Maggie started typing. Then deleted it. Then tried again. And again.

**gothamsfinest:** okay, this isn’t meant to be creepy, but do you work in law enforcement?

**ddsaaxd:** …maybe.

**gothamsfinest:** and you’re a badass in charge of your own team in National City handling the kind of threats that most people don’t even think about?

**ddsaaxd:** how are you guessing these things?

**gothamsfinest:** I’m a detective. I detect.

**gothamsfinest:** Also, I, uh, I make a point of not putting much identifiable information online, but we’ve been talking for a while

**gothamsfinest:** so in the interest of radical honesty, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Maggie.

**ddsaaxd:** Maggie Sawyer?

**gothamsfinest:** the one and only

**ddsaaxd:** did you know who I was before we met?

**gothamsfinest:** no, I swear.

**gothamsfinest:** in person you seem very smooth, not like a baby gay at all ;)

**ddsaaxd:** fuck you

**gothamsfinest:** buy me a drink first

**ddsaaxd:** don’t think your gf would approve

**gothamsfinest:** don’t have one. Apparently you shouldn’t spend your whole date talking about how brilliant and cool and brave this new fed you’re working with is

**ddsaaxd:** you think that about me?

**gothamsfinest:** I do.

**gothamsfinest:** And I don’t meet many people I like.

**gothamsfinest:** But I really, really like you, Alex.

**ddsaaxd:** So if I were to ask again…about that drink…

**gothamsfinest:** I think you’d find there’s nothing keeping me from saying yes this time

**ddsaaxd:** cool. Good to know

**gothamsfinest:** HEY!

**gothamsfinest:** NOT COOL DANVERS

**ddsaaxd:** That’s a lie. You already admitted that you think I’m cool.

**gothamsfinest:** I lied. You’re still an insufferable fed.

**ddsaaxd:** But one you also think is brilliant and brave and should totally be a romantic lead in the movie about your life.

**gothamsfinest:** I’m deleting that post.

**ddsaaxd:** don’t! I like it

**ddsaaxd:** what do you say you keep that up, and in exchange the first date is my treat?

**gothamsfinest:** you know calling it the first kind of implies there’ll be a second, right?

**ddsaaxd:** I’ve got a good feeling about you, Sawyer.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Twitter and Tumblr @sapphicscholar


End file.
